An auction in New York today is almost certain to make the celebrated artist a record-breaker. But, overshadowing what could be a $60m sale, are questions about works that have allegedly disappeared

This may well be Frida Kahlo’s biggest year yet. There’s the recent opening of a museum in Mexico City celebrating her life and work. There’s the Art Institute in Chicago exhibiting her work for the first time. And then, in Shenzhen, there’s the show that marked her Chinese debut. All this “Fridamania” tucks in between last year’s big screen documentary Frida and next year’s exhibitions in London and the US.

What’s more, to cap it all, a Sotheby’s auction in New York today is almost certain to make Kahlo a record-breaker. Her 1940 painting The Dream (The Bed) is forecast to fetch between $40-$60m, which would dwarf the previous record for a female artist, set in 2014 by Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No 1, which sold for $44.4m.